Comments on: Review of Auto Yashinon-DX 50mm/1.7 m42-lens

By: En dag med Yashinon-DX 50mm/1.7 | Retrofoto

En dag med Yashinon-DX 50mm/1.7 | Retrofoto — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:10:58 +0000

[...] begränsa sig kan göra det enklare att skapa ibland. För en vecka sedan åkte jag på en tur med Auto Yashinon-DX 50mm/1.7. Jag begränsade även motiv till fallna löv i olika former. Här är några bilder från dagen. [...]

By: A day with Yashinon-DX 50mm/1.7 | RetroCamera

A day with Yashinon-DX 50mm/1.7 | RetroCamera — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 14:55:53 +0000

[...] by , I use only one lens each day. Last week I took a small hike with the Auto Yashinon-DX 50mm/1.7. I choose to photograph only fallen leafs in different forms. Here are some of my favorites from [...]

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:22:10 +0000

Thanks, Paul. I figured it must be something like that. I’ll just shoot at shorter distances when using my film cameras. It’s a great lens!

By: paul

paul — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 14:03:29 +0000

Hi Bob,

When at infinity, the rear element is so close to the film plane that the Spotmatic mirror hits the lens and stays there.
Works ok at less than 5 meter.
Apparently, old Yashica SLR’s have a shorter mirror, or else they retract it slightly on the way up.

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 18:03:34 +0000

This lens works great on my Pentax K100d, but, oddly enough, when I’ve tried it on my Spotmatic and SF1n, the shutter sticks, and in order to release it fully I have to unscrew the lens slightly. I love the lens for its rich color and sharpness, but am wary of using it on my film cameras because of this stickiness. Has anybody else had that problem?

By: sverre helgesen

sverre helgesen — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:43:10 +0000

Hi Mattias – tjena Stockholmar’n!

I bought a Weist SL-35 TTL SLR from our local church charity-shop in Gotta-borg the other week. It says Japan on the back and is heavy-enough for it to be the rebadged Yashica I think it is.

It came with an Auto Yashinon DX-1.7 50mm in pristine condition. Was impressed with the apparent finish and quality of the camera, but the stop-down cum lightmeter lever didn’t work. The lens didn’t screw-on enough for the red-line to be vertical on the housing, so the pin for the stop-down wasn’t aligned properly. So I tried it on my Praktica MTL-5B. Same thing, the red-line still didn’t line up – but suddenly the stop-down and lightmeter worked! Very smoothly. So the Yashinon stays on the Praktica.

Ironic; the Weist works perfectly with a Pentacon lens on it!

Both use mercury batteries for the lightmeters, I have 2 still working well, so it was a surprise to find the Weist PREFERS an SR44! Using my Gossen Profisix SBC lightmeter as a reference the SR-powered Weist is only 1 to a half stop under-exposed. Both the Praktika and Weist using mercury batteries are way off, the Practica not liking the SR44 at all, either. Obviously needs to be recalibrated.

But, a pensioner, I’ve had the time to run a colour-film through both cameras. People laugh at Pentacons as being cheap rubbish, but I’ve always been fond of them, they’ve taken many a good photo at motocross meets in all weathers, as well as the odd piccie when I was an active glider-pilot. Looking at the prints the Yashinon is looking interesting. Do I detect a slightly-better sharpness, mmm?

I’m quietly confident the 400sek I paid for the Weist (and I thought that was a bit high for an unknown brand camera, but as the money goes to a good cause I paid-up) was well-worth the money, JUST for the lens.

I’ll have to try and source some Tri-X or Ilford b/w film and troll the backstreets, take a trip on the ferry to Denmark …and find out.

By: Kaley Posusta

Kaley Posusta — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 20:56:22 +0000

Wow! is actually wonderful sharing. Bless you a any!

By: Mattias

Mattias — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:14:54 +0000

Aha, so it’s only the lenses with higher values that has yellowing.

By: Bob Miller

Bob Miller — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:09:47 +0000

This web page has data that shows the Yashinon DX 50mm/1.7 lens to have only background level radiation, which would not account for your “yellowing”.

http://yashica.org/254-2-Lens+radioactivity+-+measurements.html

Is it possible that your lens has a yellowish factory coating but renders colors accurately?

The above page does show a higher radiation level in the later Yashinon DS 50mm/1.7 and some others

By: TERZAN Philippe

TERZAN Philippe — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:05:45 +0000

it’s a very good lens, and i am very surprises better than the takumar, more sharper than the takumar, and i have confirmed my test on two different takumar 1.4. I think you can correct the yellow color, (same problem than takumar) with a UV lamp,

you must place the lens face a UV lamp